At the start of 2020 I was asked to help out a small local recreational cricket club in rural Leicestershire, who I have represented in the past. The Club had fallen into a state of disarray largely through well-meaning but poor leadership. A lack of discipline, organisation and focus had led to dwindling interest, insolvency and near closure. This is not uncommon with a great many organisations highly dependent on volunteers.
Simple governance, financial and operational steps have dramatically turned around the Club’s fortunes over 4 years to the extent that it has a growing membership, extensive sponsorship and the ability to deploy significant capital to upgrade facilities.
The challenge with small volunteer-driven clubs and organisations is you have to work with what you have, the enthusiasm, skills and expertise. People can choose to absent themselves for periods of time, and continued commitment is not a given. They are inherently fragile organisations, where the future is only as good as the commitment levels of the strongest contributors. It is easy to get distracted by trying to keep everyone happy when the reality is if you don’t properly support your strongest contributors, there is no tomorrow.